A Word in Season: The Consequence of Confidence (2 Corinthians 5:9)

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You might have thought that the consequence of confidence would be carelessness. That a man who has a cast -iron guarantee of a happy outcome would probably be able to say, if not, well,

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I can totally let myself go, then at the very least, at least I can give myself a little bit of breathing space, that I don't have to work too hard or try too much because I know that the outcome is assured and truly positive.

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Now, in spiritual things, no one had greater confidence than the Apostle Paul. Confidence in the finished work of the

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Lord Jesus Christ, confidence in the purposes of his Father in Heaven, confidence in the indwelling and operations of the

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Holy Spirit. Some of that confidence is expressed, for example, in 2 Corinthians and chapter 5, where the

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Apostle Paul says that we know that if our earthly house, this tent, is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.

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Paul groaned eagerly for the day when he would put aside the clothing of this mortal body, not to be naked, but ultimately to be further clothed, that mortality might be swallowed up in life.

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Paul was looking forward eagerly to the day of resurrection. He was able to say in 2

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Corinthians 5 and verse 5 that he who has prepared us for this very thing is God, who also has given us the

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Spirit as a guarantee, the Father's preparation of his people for this end, the

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Spirit as the down payment of what lies ahead. So he's able to say we are always confident, knowing that while we are at home in the body, we are absent from the

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Lord, for we walk by faith, not by sight. We are confident, yes, well pleased, rather to be absent from the body and to be present with the

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Lord. And you might have imagined that even if Paul didn't say, well, now

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I can just take it easy and and kick back and do as I please, that he might at least have said with that kind of certainty and with everything that I've done so far, perhaps now

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I can try and take things just a little bit easier. But that is far from the conclusion that he draws.

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That is not the consequence of confidence. In fact, rather the opposite. Verse 9.

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Therefore, because of this confidence, because of this assurance, because of the work of the

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Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, because we know what lies ahead and we are assured of our place in the glory to come.

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Therefore, we make it our aim, whether present or absent, whether we are living now or whether or not we expect to be shortly with Christ.

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We make it our aim to be well pleasing to him. Because God had saved him, the

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Apostle Paul labored for the smile of his heavenly father. It's not that he's now trying to smuggle works into a relationship of grace.

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It's not that having begun in the spirit, he thinks he's going to be perfected in the flesh. It's not that he is suddenly reversing or twisting all of the principles that he's always preached and lived by.

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No, he wants the well done, good and faithful servant. He knows that we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive the things done in the body according to what he has done, whether good or bad.

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So Paul's not saying, I'm confident, but not really. Still less is he saying,

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I'm confident and therefore I'm careless. Rather, he says, because I know what lies ahead for me and for others.

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This judgment that is to come, I do everything that is in my power.

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I consecrate all the faculties of my redeemed humanity to serve

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God, that when I come before him, I might have discharged my duty with regard to others and that I might obtain from him the blessing and the favor and the reward for the work that I have carried out.

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So this is not to say that we shouldn't have confidence. We should. And it's not to say that we should work in order that we might have confidence.

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Rather, being confident, we are careful to serve God as he is directed in order that we may be well pleasing to him in all things.

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The consequence of confidence is a careful life of godliness.